With the growing momentum of the open-source movement, one could say that Martin Taylor doesn't have one of the most enviable jobs.

As Microsoft's general manager of platform strategy, Taylor has to deal with anti-Microsoft sentiments while evangelizing his company's products. Despite the challenges, he maintains an unwavering conviction that his company can deliver better returns than those offered by open-source software. According to Taylor, businesses that tried out Linux or other open-source tools are now realizing that they are putting in more investment into the technology than they had initially thought.

Q: In the last six months, what have you been focused on in terms of development work?

Taylor: We continue to do the same things that we've been doing in the last couple of years. First and foremost, we are looking to understand some of the scenarios like why customers are considering Linux, and making sure we have the right offerings for the marketplace.